While Tuesday only saw a minor bump of $2.13, or 0.3 percent, it was enough to push the stock price to $701.91, the first time Apple shares closed above $700 in company history. The Cupertino tech giant now has a market cap of nearly $658 billon, a value more than $250 billion higher than America's second-largest company Exxon Mobil.

A new intraday record was also set on Tuesday as the stock reached $702.33 less than an hour before the NASDAQ closed.

Thought to be a major factor in the stock's rise is Apple's record-breaking iPhone 5 pre-order round that saw two million orders in 24 hours.

In a subsequent note to investors, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said Apple is likely to sell about eight million iPhone 5 units in its first weekend of sales, a number that doubles the results from last year's iPhone 4S launch. He goes on to say that by the end of the quarter, the smartphone could reach a lofty 10 million unit sales.

Apple's newest handset is set to roll out on Friday in nine countries, to be followed by an additional 22 countries on Sept. 28 in what will be the company's fastest product rollout ever.

But it's just a bubble, imagine how hard it will fall when Apple tanks, this doesn't mean anything because Samsung makes refrigerators, think of the children(!), rectangle patents, Foxconn suicides oh my!, Apple hates babies, satsfied customers are biased, Steve would never have allowed this, Lucy Koh hates Samsung (especially when she leaves it up to a jury), iOS is stale, etc., etc., etc.

Now that Apple is the most valuable company in the world and according to Tim Cook "makes much more money than they need to operate" they ought to consider lowering prices across their line to make them more competitive with Windows PCs.

Now that Apple is the most valuable company in the world and according to Tim Cook "makes much more money than they need to operate" they ought to consider lowering prices across their line to make them more competitive with Windows PCs.

'Competitive' by lowering prices on products that are already outselling your competition both in quality and performance? You're not serious are you?

Now that Apple is the most valuable company in the world and according to Tim Cook "makes much more money than they need to operate" they ought to consider lowering prices across their line to make them more competitive with Windows PCs.

But it's just a bubble, imagine how hard it will fall when Apple tanks, this doesn't mean anything because Samsung makes refrigerators, think of the children(!), rectangle patents, Foxconn suicides oh my!, Apple hates babies, satsfied customers are biased, Steve would never have allowed this, Lucy Koh hates Samsung (especially when she leaves it up to a jury), iOS is stale, etc., etc., etc.

/s

Did I miss anything?

I think you've got it all covered, but you could have scored a few style points by slipping a good ol' fashioned "beleaguered" in there somewhere.

Now that Apple is the most valuable company in the world and according to Tim Cook "makes much more money than they need to operate" they ought to consider lowering prices across their line to make them more competitive with Windows PCs.

He didn't say " much more money than they need to operate". He did say that the evaluated their position as far as capital goes, and that they had more money than they needed to operate the company, and so they were going to return that money to the stockholders.

In addition, most of that money is held overseas. Bringing it home would involve paying billions in taxes. Companies are loath to do that because they've already paid taxes on it, and feel that taxes paid locally on money made locally should be sufficient.

It's naive to think that they should lower prices because of cash on hand and investments.

You might as well convince Microsoft to lower prices on their software, as they have much higher margins on that than Apple has on its products. They've also got a large cash hoard. Same thing with the oil companies, and lots of others.

I'm glad they (and all the other chumps that doubted Job's vision for a business model) are able to witness it.

Job's had to learn to respect operational perfection as well as product perfection to insure a hugely profitable company... But once he did, Apple was destined for greatness.

It's totally awesome that a company can be so successful by having it run by people who want to make great sh&t instead of just a sh&t load of money. Obviously, the money follows. But the focus on great products, great software and great user experience in EVERY possible detail is obviously what Apple has been focused on since Job's returned.

Most companies follow the path: "What will make us the most money?" ---> "What will people buy to make us the most amount of money?" ---> "How can we cut corners to optimize profit and make the most money?" ---> "Let's make it."

Apple seems to follow the path: "What idea/device seems totally awesome?" -->"Let's design/develop it." ---> "Is it as cool as we thought it was going to be AND would I buy it?" If yes to both -->"Let's make it" If no to either -->"Let's not make it... yet (until price goes down or design improved)"

Now that Apple is the most valuable company in the world and according to Tim Cook "makes much more money than they need to operate" they ought to consider lowering prices across their line to make them more competitive with Windows PCs.

Haven't you heard that the growth in Windows PCs is flat and declining -- while the growth in Macs is raising and increasing?

It's certainly possible. That's only around 30% more than it is now. If Apple's sales and profits are more than 30% higher at the time it might make it, but if they are more than 50% higher, as is very likely, it's hard to believe it won't get there by then.

But it's just a bubble, imagine how hard it will fall when Apple tanks, this doesn't mean anything because Samsung makes refrigerators, think of the children(!), rectangle patents, Foxconn suicides oh my!, Apple hates babies, satsfied customers are biased, Steve would never have allowed this, Lucy Koh hates Samsung (especially when she leaves it up to a jury), iOS is stale, etc., etc., etc.

/s

Did I miss anything?

Good start but don't forget about US jobs, under-aged Foxconn workers, and privacy issues.

I'm glad they (and all the other chumps that doubted Job's vision for a business model) are able to witness it.

Job's had to learn to respect operational perfection as well as product perfection to insure a hugely profitable company... But once he did, Apple was destined for greatness.

It's totally awesome that a company can be so successful by having it run by people who want to make great sh&t instead of just a sh&t load of money. Obviously, the money follows. But the focus on great products, great software and great user experience in EVERY possible detail is obviously what Apple has been focused on since Job's returned.

Most companies follow the path: "What will make us the most money?" ---> "What will people buy to make us the most amount of money?" ---> "How can we cut corners to optimize profit and make the most money?" ---> "Let's make it."

Apple seems to follow the path: "What idea/device seems totally awesome?" -->"Let's design/develop it." ---> "Is it as cool as we thought it was going to be AND would I buy it?" If yes to both -->"Let's make it" If no to either -->"Let's not make it... yet (until price goes down or design improved)"